Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector.

• Government to fund development of support for women veterans who have suffered from sexual trauma in the military
• Delivers on three reports that give recommendations to service providers on how quality of and access to support can be improved
• Findings will feed into government’s first Women Veterans’ Strategy, due to be published in spring 2024

Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector thanks to a new £200,000 government fund.

This funding will support the rollout of dedicated training and guidance for frontline staff to support women veteran survivors of sexual trauma across healthcare services, military and civilian charities.

The fund has been set up following recommendations in three independent reports commissioned by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA). The reports investigated how the government and charities can improve access to care for female veterans.

The reports fulfil part of the government’s Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan to recognise and champion the contribution of women to the armed forces.

Findings from reports by Anglia Ruskin University, veteran mental health charity Combat Stress and Robert Gordon University suggest that women’s experiences in the military require tailored support from statutory and charitable services.

The recommendations for policymakers, service providers and researchers include:

• Providing staff training across statutory and charity services which focuses on female veterans’ needs, including mental health and sexual trauma
• Increasing partnerships between service and non-military charities to share best practice and provide more appropriate care for female veterans
• Improving signposting to support through marketing, newsletters, online directories or peer networks
• Gathering gendered data across government and charities to ensure more equitable access to support and better outcomes
• Further researching the experiences and needs of female veterans to improve access to support, including transitioning from service, personal finance, housing, employment and healthcare

The OVA’s Women Veterans’ Strategy will take on a number of the recommendations and are collaborating with the researchers to ensure the key findings of the reports are reflected in the upcoming strategy.

Anglia Ruskin University has reported on the experiences of tri-service UK female veterans in accessing support in civilian life. Researchers found that female veterans experienced a number of challenges in civilian life, many related to gendered experiences during their military service and these increased their need for support from statutory and charitable services.

Combat Stress has researched methods on improving access to best-evidenced treatment – such as cognitive processing therapy – for women veterans who had experienced sexual trauma. The report highlighted that women veterans often feel their experiences of sexual trauma are not widely understood by health care professionals or the wider veteran community.

Robert Gordon University investigated the barriers and opportunities for female veterans in accessing service charities. The universities concluded that as female veterans may not self-identify as veterans, and may have different support needs to male veterans due to different experiences of military service, they may be reluctant to access service charities.

The Ministry of Defence is clear that is no place for sexual assault or other sexual offences in the Armed Forces and we are committed to stamping it out and supporting anybody impacted by this terrible behaviour.

As part of the department’s commitment to prevent and address unacceptable sexual behaviour, we have a number of measures in place to tackle this type of offending including zero tolerance policies and strengthen levers to discharge those who are found to have committed sexual offences or unacceptable sexual behaviour.

We continue to use relevant information about sexual offending in the Armed Forces to consider and develop further interventions and measures to try and tackle this type of offending.

Notes

• Anglia Ruskin’s report ‘Where are all the women?’: Recognition and representation – UK female veterans’ experiences of support in civilian life can be found here: https://www.centreformilitarywomensresearch.com/projects/female-veterans-
• The report by Combat Stress, “ENHANCE Study: Improving Access to Evidence-Based Treatment for Women Veteran Survivors of Sexual Trauma”, can be accessed at: https://combatstress.org.uk/sites/default/files/Files/CombatStress_ENHANCE_Report_230928.pdf
• Robert Gordon University’s report “Improving Access to Service Charities for Female Veterans”, is available at: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2079145

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-fund-to-improve-access-to-support-for-female-veterans–2

October 27, 2023

Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector.

• Government to fund development of support for women veterans who have suffered from sexual trauma in the military
• Delivers on three reports that give recommendations to service providers on how quality of and access to support can be improved
• Findings will feed into government’s first Women Veterans’ Strategy, due to be published in spring 2024

Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector thanks to a new £200,000 government fund.

This funding will support the rollout of dedicated training and guidance for frontline staff to support women veteran survivors of sexual trauma across healthcare services, military and civilian charities.

The fund has been set up following recommendations in three independent reports commissioned by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA). The reports investigated how the government and charities can improve access to care for female veterans.

The reports fulfil part of the government’s Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan to recognise and champion the contribution of women to the armed forces.

Findings from reports by Anglia Ruskin University, veteran mental health charity Combat Stress and Robert Gordon University suggest that women’s experiences in the military require tailored support from statutory and charitable services.

The recommendations for policymakers, service providers and researchers include:

• Providing staff training across statutory and charity services which focuses on female veterans’ needs, including mental health and sexual trauma
• Increasing partnerships between service and non-military charities to share best practice and provide more appropriate care for female veterans
• Improving signposting to support through marketing, newsletters, online directories or peer networks
• Gathering gendered data across government and charities to ensure more equitable access to support and better outcomes
• Further researching the experiences and needs of female veterans to improve access to support, including transitioning from service, personal finance, housing, employment and healthcare

The OVA’s Women Veterans’ Strategy will take on a number of the recommendations and are collaborating with the researchers to ensure the key findings of the reports are reflected in the upcoming strategy.

Anglia Ruskin University has reported on the experiences of tri-service UK female veterans in accessing support in civilian life. Researchers found that female veterans experienced a number of challenges in civilian life, many related to gendered experiences during their military service and these increased their need for support from statutory and charitable services.

Combat Stress has researched methods on improving access to best-evidenced treatment – such as cognitive processing therapy – for women veterans who had experienced sexual trauma. The report highlighted that women veterans often feel their experiences of sexual trauma are not widely understood by health care professionals or the wider veteran community.

Robert Gordon University investigated the barriers and opportunities for female veterans in accessing service charities. The universities concluded that as female veterans may not self-identify as veterans, and may have different support needs to male veterans due to different experiences of military service, they may be reluctant to access service charities.

The Ministry of Defence is clear that is no place for sexual assault or other sexual offences in the Armed Forces and we are committed to stamping it out and supporting anybody impacted by this terrible behaviour.

As part of the department’s commitment to prevent and address unacceptable sexual behaviour, we have a number of measures in place to tackle this type of offending including zero tolerance policies and strengthen levers to discharge those who are found to have committed sexual offences or unacceptable sexual behaviour.

We continue to use relevant information about sexual offending in the Armed Forces to consider and develop further interventions and measures to try and tackle this type of offending.

Notes

• Anglia Ruskin’s report ‘Where are all the women?’: Recognition and representation – UK female veterans’ experiences of support in civilian life can be found here: https://www.centreformilitarywomensresearch.com/projects/female-veterans-
• The report by Combat Stress, “ENHANCE Study: Improving Access to Evidence-Based Treatment for Women Veteran Survivors of Sexual Trauma”, can be accessed at: https://combatstress.org.uk/sites/default/files/Files/CombatStress_ENHANCE_Report_230928.pdf
• Robert Gordon University’s report “Improving Access to Service Charities for Female Veterans”, is available at: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2079145

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-fund-to-improve-access-to-support-for-female-veterans–2

October 27, 2023